“Mission is finding those whose hearts are right with Him and placing them where they can make a difference for Him.”  Henry Blackaby

One of the great dangers in living the Christian life occurs when we become activity centred instead of God centred. For God’s ways are not always our ways.

In Acts chapter 8 we read of a great persecution breaking out against the church in Jerusalem resulting in many of the Christians being scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. Philip found himself in a city in Samaria where he proclaimed Jesus with amazing results.
“Crowds listened intently to Philip because they were eager to hear his message and see the miraculous signs he did. Many evil spirits were cast out, screaming as they left their victims. And many who had been paralysed or lame were healed. So there was great joy in that city.” Acts 8:6-8
The impact of Philip’s ministry was so great that Peter and John were sent by the disciples in Jerusalem to witness this great work of God.

It would have been natural for us to assume that Philip would have stayed in this city where an open door to preaching the gospel had been provided for him with unprecedented results. It would have been logical for him to establish his mission headquarters there. Yet Philip was not activity centred as some can be. Rather, he was God centred with a desire to live his life in the centre of God’s will and purposes.

And so it happened that an angel of the Lord appeared to Philip to instruct him to leave this citywide revival and travel along a desert road. Philip did not hesitate and on that desert road he met a high-ranking Ethiopian official riding in a chariot reading from the prophet Isaiah. Again, Philip just happened to be in the right place at the right time and he was led to speak to the Ethiopian about the good news of Jesus and baptise him. Because he was God centred and not activity centred, the gospel would now extend to the country of Ethiopia because of a contact Philip had with one man on a remote desert road in obedience to a call from an angel of the Lord.

As I think of Philip’s God centred story, I am reminded of an encounter I had with a pastor who asked if he could urgently meet with me to share a challenging situation in which he had found himself.
Over a cup of coffee, he explained that it was the time of the year where he was required to present his church’s goals for the next 12 months to the leaders of the church. However, he then admitted that he had run out of ideas and couldn’t complete a goal presentation for his leaders. Not only that, but he went on to say that if I couldn’t help him, he would probably need to resign.

My response rather surprised him. I told him to tell his leaders that he didn’t have any goals to share with them, but that from now on they would not be an activity centred group, but a God centred group.
I then directed him to the life that Jesus modelled for us in John chapter 5 where He said, “My Father is always at His work to this very day, and I too am working……the Son can do nothing by Himself, He can only do what He sees His father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all He does. Yes, and He will show Him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed.”  John 5:15, 19-20

I then shared five words that I had found helpful in defining a God centred ministry as compared to an activity centred ministry that he had been following.

1. A = God the Father is already at work and as we surrender our lives to Him, we choose to be unconditionally available to join Him in what He is already doing.
2. E = Like Philip, we need to be sensitive to the continual and often unexpected leading of God in our lives.
3. I = Communication flows out of a relationship of intimacy. We make it a priority to live as Jesus lived, who could say, “For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all He does.”
4. O = Henry Blackaby explains this step where he says, “As the Father reveals to us what He is doing, we need to respond in steps of unconditional obedience to join Him. God has a right to interrupt our lives. When we surrender to Him as Lord, we give Him the right to help Himself to our lives anytime he wants.”
5. U = As we experience the Father at work in our lives we come to know Him and His ways and confidently trust our future to Him.

Two days after our meeting, this pastor called me and asked If I would be available to meet with him and his leaders for a half day retreat in a few days’ time. Ironically, his leaders were not disappointed with him when he shared with them that he was unable to present to them a list of goals for the coming year. They were interested in learning more about being a God centred leadership team.

We met the next Saturday morning and took time to study the words of Jesus in John 5 and then in prayer to ask the Father to show them where He was at work so that they could join with Him in His unfolding purposes for their church. I returned the following Sunday to preach in their worship service about a God centred church.

You will be interested to know that my pastor friend didn’t resign. But he and his leaders were stirred as they had fresh perspective about the future that God had revealed to them for their church.

Henry Blackaby wrote, “God continues to seek those as responsive as Philip to go on mission with Him. The reason God has not brought a great revival to more places is not that He is unable or that He is unwilling. He FIRST looks for those willing to have their lives radically adjusted away from their self-centred activities and placed into the centre of God’s activity around the world.”

As you read this article can I invite you to connect with the Father “who is always at His work to this very day.” If God could use Philip to take the gospel to the ends of the earth, what might He have planned for you and your church/mission organisation?